Calculating the force exerted by a swung implement where mass is concentrated at

Tweet

the end of the haft. I am trying to calculate the force exerted by swung implement, say an axe or hammer. The force exerted upon collision with an object will be proportional to the mass of the implement and the velocity. So, given the mass of the implement is known the first step is to calculate the velocity but for an implement such as an axe or hammer the blow is made effective by pulling it inwards towards the end of the stroke, reducing the distance to between centre of mass and centre of rotation, this will increase the velocity, since by conservation of angular momentum velocity is proportional to the inverse of that distance. Ok, so far so good, so what I need to calculate is what acceleration a man can give to such an implement and thereby the velocity or the final velocity. Any ideas? all the best, urban